Catholic Women Gather at the WINE National Women’s Conference Meets at the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa

The National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, PA, was the site of the inaugural WINE National Catholic Women’s Conference held in conjunction with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Office for the New Evangelization. WINE, which stands for Women In the New Evangelization, drew over 1,200 women from all over the United States to the one-day event held on October 21, 2017, with a theme of “Drawn by Love: Sent by Fire.”

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput by saying, “ This is a sold-out conference with women from all over the country. The only word for that kind of a turnout is ‘extraordinary.’ So anyone worried about the future of the Church just needs to stand where I stand and look out on a roomful of good and faithful and beautiful Catholic women.” His talk was followed by praise and worship music led by Amanda Vernon and talks by Alyssa Bormes, Kelly Wahlquist, Kitty Cleveland, Teresa Tomeo and Sarah Christmyer. WINE also allotted time for prayer, Adoration, confession as well as time to make new friendships. The conference closed with Mass celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop John McIntyre.

WINE invites women into relationship in several ways including conferences such as this National Conference at the shrine, small groups called WINE “clusters;” Women, WINE, and Wisdom meals, retreats and “Read Between the Wines” book clubs. The four “tannins” of WINE are sisterhood, Scripture and Prayer, the truths of the Catholic Church and of course Chocolate.

“It just hit me,” WINE founderWahlquist said, “And I thought, ‘You lit me on fire with a love for you years ago, and you had a plan that would help me bring that fire to other people. I didn’t see your plan, but you did.’

“So the lesson there is two-fold. Lesson number one is be careful what you pray for — our Lord is generous! Number two, God has a plan of sheer goodness for all of our lives. We just need to trust in him, and trust in that plan.”